


Valentine's Day

by agirlintheville



Series: 100 Dates [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint Barton & Hulk Friendship, Established Relationship, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 09:53:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3352271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agirlintheville/pseuds/agirlintheville
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hulk like candy.”<br/>Clint blinked, “Oh. Yeah, okay-“<br/>“Hulk like flowers. And jewelry.” At Clint’s skeptical look, Hulk frowned. “Hulk does like jewelry. Shiny.”</p>
<p>Bruce hulks out on Valentine's Day; Clint doesn't let that stop them from enjoying the day together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Valentine's Day

Clint stared at the ruined furniture in Bruce’s living room with wide eyes. Sighing, he carefully placed the golden box of chocolates and the wrapped bundle of gerbera daisies on the small bookshelf near the door. It was the only thing in the room that had survived. He was glad of that. The bookshelf was where Bruce kept his collection of framed photos, so at least the smiling memories were intact.

He began to maneuver carefully around the debris in the room.

“Bruce? Are you here? Hulk?” Clint paused next to the flattened, splintered couch which seemed to be the epicenter of the destruction. He crouched down, inspecting it. Hidden under the broken wood, he saw a tattered envelope, and the corner of a dented laptop.

Clint pulled out the envelope and peeked inside to see two concert tickets. There was a nearby concert hall that was featuring a show on percussion instruments, and Clint had mentioned that he wanted to see it. In violation of their ‘no expensive gifts on Valentine’s Day’ rule, Bruce had purchased the tickets for him.

“Bruce, you sweetie pie you,” Clint murmured. Then he frowned wondering why this would cause him to Hulk out. Had he been nervous? Gingerly, he eased out the laptop. It was dented but still functional since Tony had made of all the technology in Bruce’s rooms smash proof.

Prying it open, Clint saw that Bruce had been watching a video. He considered it for a moment, then shrugged and hit play. Screaming wails immediately erupted from the computer’s speakers. Clint clapped his hands over his ears, and slammed the computer shut with his foot.

“Wow, what was that?” he rubbed at his ears, trying to stop the ringing. It was then that he heard a small whimper coming from inside Bruce’s bedroom.

“Bruce?” Clint called. “Hulk?” The whimper came again. He hurried into the bedroom to find Hulk huddled in the corner farthest from the door, his arms wrapped around his knees. “Hulk? Buddy, you okay?”

The giant whimpered again, and tried to make himself even smaller.

“Hey, Hulk, it’s okay. Nothing’s going to hurt you,” Clint knelt down by Hulk’s legs to gently pat his knee.

Hulk slowly raised his head a little, “Screams gone?”

“Yeah, they’re gone buddy. Sorry they scared you.”

Hulk glowered at him, “Screams your fault?”

“What? No! I mean, I just feel bad that something scared you, not that they were my fault.”

“Whose fault?”

Clint scratched his head, “Uh, I don’t know. It was probably a joke or a virus or something.”

“Joke,” Hulk huddled into himself again. “Joke not funny.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Clint wrapped his arms around Hulk as much as he could, gently rubbing the broad green back. They stayed like that as Hulk grumbled quietly to himself. After a few minutes, Clint cleared his throat.

“So, um, I don’t suppose there’s any chance of Bruce coming back soon? We kind of have something to do.”

Hulk raised his head again. “Bad guys fighting?”

“Uh no. There’s no mission. But, you know, it’s Valentine’s day, so Bruce and I-“

“Valentine’s day?” The words came out as a question.

Clint leaned back a little. “Oh. Well, it’s a day, a holiday. Kind of a made up holiday. But, anyway, it’s a day to celebrate the people you care about. And the people who care about you. And you get candy, and flowers, and…oh, jewelry’s a really popular gift-“

“Hulk like candy.”

Clint blinked, “Oh. Yeah, okay-“

“Hulk like flowers. And jewelry.” At Clint’s skeptical look, Hulk frowned. “Hulk does like jewelry. Shiny.”

“Okay, fine, but still Bruce and I had plans, so-“

“Hulk care about Cupid.”

At that, Clint paused, and looked at Hulk. His green eyes looked so hopeful, and he had just been through such a terrible scare. Clint smiled, “I care about you too, Hulk.”

“So no need Banner?”

“Well, I’ll always need Bruce, but I guess I can make it up to him later.” At that, the Hulk grinned and wrapped the smaller man up in a hug. “Alright, okay, easy, Big Green! So what do you want to do?”

“Candy, flowers?”

“Yep, got those. They’re out in the living room.”

“Jewelry?”

“Um,” Clint’s mind flashed to the silver and gold ring hidden in a small box in his nightstand. Briefly, he imagined what would happen if he presented the ring to Hulk, and he giggled. “No, jewelry today. Sorry. But what about movies with people stealing jewelry? Just as good.”

Hulk thought it over for a minute, and finally said, “Not as good, but okay."

Clint rolled his eyes, “Wow, okay. I’ll do better next time, sorry.”

Hulk grinned and rolled to his feet. “Yes, next time jewelry. Where candy?”

 ***

Clint had just removed the bowl of popcorn from the microwave when he heard a small groan coming from his living room. Grabbing the bowl, he hurried back in time to see Bruce sit up on the couch.

“Bruce! You’re awake!” Clint placed the bowl on the coffee table and sat down next to him, close enough to touch if needed, but still giving him plenty of space.

“Clint? What happened?”

“Well, I think someone might have sent you one of those videos, where it starts off all peaceful and then there’s like a scary face screaming at you. You know?”

Bruce slowly sat up. “Right, yeah, I remember that.” He looked at himself, noting the tattered pants and the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. “I hulked out, huh?”

“Yep. Destroyed your living room. Don’t worry, I got Tony on it, so it should be fixed in a couple of days. You can stay with me.  Hulk was pretty freaked out though. Popcorn?” Clint waved his hand towards the bowl

Bruce blinked at the slew of information, and at the bowl of popcorn. “Is he upset?”

“Who? Hulk?”

“No, Tony,” Bruce frowned. “Why would Hulk be upset?”

“It was a pretty scary video. He was pretty shaken up,” Clint shrugged, and deeming it safe to touch now, settled back next to Bruce.

“He was?” Rubbing his hands over his face, Bruce looked around again. Clint looked as well, wincing at the mess.

The golden box of chocolates was in two pieces since Hulk had gotten frustrated at trying to open it. Then he had then tried all the chocolates, and the ones that he didn’t like he had spat back into the box. The flowers were standing pretty in a tall vase, except for three stems that were bent and crushed after Hulk had tried to smell them. He had been more careful with the other stems. Clint had also fed him the dinner that he had intended to make for Bruce, and hadn’t yet cleaned up the dirty dishes.

“Are you…” Bruce’s brow was wrinkled in confusion. “Are you watching _A Fish Called Wanda_?

Clint glanced at the TV, where he had paused the movie in order to get more popcorn. “Yeah... Hulk was a little upset that I didn’t get any jewelry for him. Well, for you but then him. So we were watching jewelry heist flicks so he could get his shiny fix.” Apprehensively, he glanced back at Bruce. “Are you mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because. All this was supposed to be for you- the chocolates, the flowers, the dinner. But then, I…uh…gave it to Hulk.”

Bruce thought for a moment, and then smiled. “No, I’m not mad. I get to be loved by you every day. I think I can sacrifice one day for him to experience a Barton love-a-thon."

“A Barton love-a-thon! That’s great, I’m patenting that.” Clint wrapped the blanket more securely around Bruce and gently tugged him, so his head was curled up against Clint's shoulder. “Well, never fear, I still have some dessert that we can share after the movie. I was hiding it from him.”

"Dessert sounds wonderful. I'm glad I didn't miss the day completely,” Bruce replied, yawning.

Chuckling, Clint kissed his forehead, and started the movie again. “Me too. Happy Valentine’s day, Bruce."

**Author's Note:**

> I admit it, I'm a total romantic and I love Valentine's Day. A whole day dedicated to caring for and loving people? Totally awesome! Everyone deserves candy and flowers today, even if you buy it and gift it to yourself. Have a great one!
> 
>  
> 
> Hang with me on [tumblr ](http://unnaturalnoise.tumblr.com) and leave me prompts!


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